Sunday, April 05, 2015

2015 MLB Playoff Predictions

I know the season has just got underway, but we had our playoff tree and awards already picked out long before the first pitch was thrown and were not swayed by any of the couple of games that have taken place so far.

This is how we see this October playing out, hopefully I'm wrong and the Giants are included, but here's what we have entering the year:

MLB Playoffs

American League:

Wild Card Game: Indians over Orioles

ALDS:
Mariners over Indians
Tigers over Red Sox

ALCS:
Tigers over Mariners (6 games)

National League:

Wild Card: Padres over Marlins

NLDS:
Nationals over Padres
Dodgers over Cardinals

NLCS: Nationals over Dodgers (6 games)

WORLD SERIES

Nationals over Tigers (7 games)

The Nationals just have it all. If they don't set records with that rotation this year I'd be quite surprised. They have the lineup, they have speed power and depth and with the addition of Max Scherzer, now sport the best rotation in the planet and basically throw three true legit aces at you in Strasburgh, Scherzer and Z-Man. They're set up beautifully for a playoff series and I think they're gonna be tough to get through with that bunch of arms and those hitters. While the Dodgers, Padres and Cardinals do come close to matching up with them, talent wise and on paper, but I think they clearly have the edge with those five very good-to-great starting pitching. Over in the AL things are a little tighter knit. I really do like Seattle this year with their growing home-grown talent mixed with a few huge free agent signings, but the Tigers almost have the offensive equivalent to Washington's rotation, and their own rotation isn't too shabby themselves whatsoever. They have two closers now too, so they can keep Joe Nathan fresh for the stretch run. They have it all, power, speed, defense, pitching and if Verlander can put things back together eventually this season, they're clear-cut favorites. Seattle, Boston (should they figure out their rotation), KC, Baltimore and possibly even every one's "Cinderella" pick from the AL, Cleveland, could all be right in the mix should Detroit suffer some major injuries/bad luck.